On this page: About Google Groups Beta | General Questions

About Google Groups Beta

As part of our mission to make the world's information universally accessible and useful, we're testing a new version of Google Groups.

Google Groups is a free service which helps groups of people communicate effectively using email and the Web. Every group has a home page hosted by Google where members can start new discussions or reply to older topics. Every group also has its own email address to help its members stay in touch with each other. Members can read and search all public Google Groups content, including more than 1 billion postings from the Usenet bulletin board service, dating back to 1981. Every group has its own Google-fast search, making it easy to find discussions locked away deep in your group's archive.

This new version of Google Groups lets you easily create your own announcement lists, mailing lists and public discussions in just minutes. The new Google Groups also makes it easier to read and participate in discussions. All the replies to an initial post are now gathered on one page. You can bookmark topics you're interested in, and have new replies to that topic delivered to your inbox. And as always, there are no pop-ups or banner ads displayed within Google Groups-only relevant text ads.

We hope you enjoy trying out the new Google Groups, and invite you to let us know what you think by sending us your feedback and suggestions.

General Questions

1. What's new in this version of Google Groups?
2. What is a Usenet Newsgroup?
3. How do I sign up with Google Groups?
4. How do I set up my own Google Group?
5. Why would I want to move the mailing list I manage to Google Groups?
6. Why would I want to join a group?
7. How do I unsubscribe from a group?
8. How do I find groups and topics that interest me?
9. My question isn't answered here. Where I can get more info?

1. What's new in this version of Google Groups?

The new Google Groups builds on the success of the original. You can search and read more than 1 billion postings in the Usenet archive, and now you can also stay in touch with friends, family and colleagues by creating your own groups, mailing lists, and email newsletters.

New Groups features and improvements include:

• Group creation: You can create, join and search email-based mailing lists, and designate your group as either public or restricted.
• Dynamic conversations: Postings to both Usenet and mailing lists appear in 10 seconds and are indexed within 10 minutes.
• Enhanced user interface: You can track and mark topics using the "My Groups" feature, and view postings in several ways, including by message summary, title, or conversation view.

As always, Google Groups never displays pop-ups or banner ads. You see only relevant text ads of interest.

2. What is a Usenet Newsgroup?

Usenet refers to the distributed online bulletin board system begun in 1979 at Duke University. Usenet users can post messages in newsgroups that can be read or contributed to by anyone with access to the Internet and special newsreader software. Over the years, the number of newsgroups has grown to the thousands, hosted all over the world and covering every conceivable topic.

Google Groups contains the world's most comprehensive archive of postings to Usenet, dating back to 1981. Google Groups eliminates the need for newsreading software and lets you search this archive in the same way you would search HTML pages on the Internet. You can also use Google Groups to post your own comments to an existing Usenet newsgroup.

3. How do I sign up with Google Groups?

You can access public content on Google Groups without signing up for the service. But in order to use additional features (reading restricted groups, posting to groups, creating your own groups), you'll have to create a Google account. To do so, click the "Join" link in the menu on the left side of the screen and follow instructions; all you need is an email address.

Note: if you're a previous Google Groups user or a Gmail user, you can use your existing Google Account to sign into Google Groups.

4. How do I set up my own Google Group?

Go to the beta homepage for our updated product, Google Groups, and click on the "Create a new group" link in the menu on the left side of the screen.

Group creation is a two-step process. The first involves naming your group, creating a group email address, and setting your group's privacy level. The second step involves adding people to your group. For this step, you'll need a list of email addresses of the people you'd like to invite. Once you've finished adding people to your group, you're done. You can also customize your group. For example, a group can be restricted (only people who've been invited can read and participate in discussions) or public (anyone can read and search group content). You can also create custom types like an announcement-only group.

Finally, group members can choose how they'd like to be notified of new activity in their groups. For important groups, members may choose to receive an email message every time a new message is posted to the group. For less time sensitive groups, users may choose to receive a daily summary email or simply read the group on the web.

5. Why would I want to move the mailing list I manage to Google Groups?

Google Groups is a simple and reliable service for managing and archiving mailing lists. In addition to basic mailing list functionality, all your mailing list content will be stored and searchable on the Web. Unlike other free mailing list services, Google Groups offers generous storage limits and only displays relevant text ads (never banners or pop-ups).

To move your mailing list to Google Groups, create a new group by clicking "Create a new group" in the menu on the left side of the screen. First, name your group and fill out the other required info. Next, add the email addresses of the people in your group. Select the option to either automatically add members or send invitations. Copying and pasting an existing list of email addresses into this form is one easy way of populating your group. Once you're ready, click "Done" and notifications or invitations to join your group will be sent out momentarily.

6. Why would I want to join a group?

Some groups require that you become a member before reading and searching the group's content, and most groups require you to join before posting new topics and replies. Finally, when you join a group, it will be added to your My Groups page for easy access.

7. How do I unsubscribe from a group?

To unsubscribe or leave a group, go to the group's home page and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page.

Please note that unsubscribing from a group may mean you'll lose access to the group's content (if that group only lets members see its content). If you want to remain a member but don't want to receive email from the group, select the "No Email" option on the left side of the "Change my membership" page, then click "Save these settings."

8. How do I find groups and topics that interest me?

If you have some idea of what you're looking for, the easiest way to find related groups and topics is to use the search box at the top of most Google Groups pages. The results will show both groups (green links) and postings (blue links) which match your search terms.

If you'd prefer to browse for groups related to your interests, go to the Google Groups home page (or the My Groups page) and click on a category that matches your interests. The next page will show a listing of related groups. Use the search box on that page to search for groups and postings within those groups.

9. My question isn't answered here. Where I can get more info?

If you didn't find the answer to your question here, please browse or search the Google Groups Help Center.